Colleges of Education align with Public Universities

By
Francis Ameyibor, GNA

Koforidua (E/R),
July 22, GNA – Colleges of Education (CoE) have been converted into University
Colleges of Education and aligned with public universities to offer a four-year
Bachelor of Education for September/October intakes.

“From October 2018, all
new entrants to the teaching profession will be required to study Bachelors of
Education degrees offered by CoE initially in affiliation with the University
of Cape Coast.

“After one year
transitional period, the programme will rope in other four public universities
as the curriculum offered in the CoE will represent a significant departure
from previous practice,” Mr Akwasi Addae-Boahene, Technical Advisor,
Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) stated at Koforidua,
Eastern Region.

The other four are;
University of Education Winneba; University of Ghana, Legon; Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology, Kumasi; and the University of Development
Studies, Tamale.

Mr Addae-Boahene who
was addressing a section of CoE Principals, Vice Principals, Tutors, Students
(Mentees) and other Stakeholders including; traditional leaders at T-TEL
Challenge Fund End of Project Learning Event, stressed that the overall aim was
to make teaching a degree profession.

He said the
universities had designed the new Bachelors of Education degrees aligned with
the National Teacher’s Standards (NTS), National Teacher Education Curriculum
Framework (NTECF) and submitted to the National Accreditation Board for
certification.

“Aligning the new
curriculum with these standards will ensure that we train the teachers which
Ghana needs to deliver a world class education system,” Mr Addae-Boahene
stated.

He explained that
the new programme would ensure that application into teacher education would
attract wider group of young men and women aspiring to undertake training and
enter the profession with a Bachelor’s degree in education.

He said it would
also improve the quality of teachers by ensuring that teacher-trainees
underwent a rigorous and practically focused high-quality degree programme that
would enable them to demonstrate the competencies set out in the National
Teachers’ Standards.

The holistic
programme would also alleviate the current disrupted workforce situation, where
in-service teachers left the classroom during part of the week for lectures as
part of the two-year studies to upgrade their diplomas to degree, leading to
significant loss of instruction time, he said.

Mr Addae-Boahene
explained that T-TEL as part of the multiple levels of support, launched the
Challenge Fund to reward and promote innovative practice in teaching, learning
and management practices of CoEs.

He said about GHC2.5
million was disbursed to 31 Colleges across the country to implement innovative
projects that would improve the practical skills of teacher trainees.

The T-TEL Technical
Advisor said as a result of the Challenge Fund, CoEs had gone through
significant and positive changes as it had stimulated innovation in teacher
development, tutor professional development, college management, as well as
gender and inclusion and improved partnership with broad-based stakeholders.

“Most importantly
the Challenge Fund has built the capacity and capability of CoEs in preparation
for the roll-out of the new Bachelor of Education curriculum.

“And this is not the
end, far from it, T-TEL will be there every step of the way, as a Government of
Ghana programme to support Colleges and Universities over the coming years,” Mr
Addae-Boahene stated.

Ms Clara Apuusi, a
Tutor at Accra College of Education told the Ghana News Agency in an interview
that the T-TEL Challenge Fund has transformed her teaching methodology, “It has
injected and uplifted my level of confidence especially in other topics.

“I am a very
confident tutor, but T-TEL has moved it to another level, and I commend the
team for the on-going transform across the CoEs”.

Ms Apuusi noted that
Accra College of Education as part of the broader scheme of the Challenge Fund
was ready to share its experiences with other colleges and also learn good
practices from others.

She said Accra
College of Education undertook a project that sought to introduce innovative
strategies towards improving trainee teachers’ pedagogical competencies and
practical classroom skills.

Ms Apuusi noted that
at the end of the project, “We have developed a Teaching Practice Manual for
Tutors and Trainees; developed a Multi-Media Teacher Learning Manuals (Video
Lessons); and harmonised Tutors’ Teaching Practice Supervision Scores, “these
we are ready to share with other CoEs”.

GNA

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